Madam Speaker, I am quite pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this debate on this important issue. I had initially thought that we would deal with Bill S-2 today, which would have been my preference, as it is an important international treaty. However that not been possible, we were then going to discuss parliamentary modernization, which I thought would have been our next subject.
It is a little peculiar because, at the same time we were going to discuss parliamentary modernization, we had the opposition today use a loophole of sorts to cause a vote on a bill in which it was in favour for no reason other than to cause an artificial delay. That does not sound like a very modern thing to do. Maybe it is because the opposition is not a very modern group. That is okay. It has a right not to be modern. If it does not want to be, I cannot help it.
Now we have another motion brought to us with the alleged purpose of splitting a bill. Perhaps it is a genuine purpose, I am not sure. That is a real parliamentary procedure and there is no doubt about it. However I wonder about the application in this case.
I would now like to quote the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve. He will no doubt be pleased that I am quoting what he said in a parliamentary committee.
During a discussion in committee, the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve wondered about hearing certain witnesses again. Being totally satisfied with the good work the committee had done to date, he was opposed to this. I cannot fault him for that. He said, “We now have 18 potential witnesses. We can hear them over three days at the most, if we have three meetings. Therefore, let us not get into ideological debates”. He was speaking to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works. He said, “The member has to sit down with the minister, who has to settle a certain number of issues, but he cannot transfer a debate that should be happening in caucus to the committee, because that does not make any sense. If clarifications are needed, I absolutely agree that this should happen, but I do not want the committee to become a hostage to those who want to wage a pro-life crusade and who want speak to defend ideological considerations”.
He then went on to refer to Canadians and Quebeckers. Quebeckers are, of course, automatically Canadians and proud of their citizenship. We are proud of belonging to this fine great country. I did not want to break into the quotation but I did want to cite it factually. He went on to say, “Canadians, Quebeckers and members of the House expect new legislation as soon as possible”.
He went on to say “The Canadian Alliance, in its recommendation, asked us to table a bill as quickly as possible. Well then, that is what we must work towards. If we were to work every day next week, say from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., we can get a serious amount of work done, but I hope that we can count on all the members around this table not to hijack the committee”.
We see what is happening. The committee is still sitting and, today, the measure proposed in the House would have the effect of hijacking the committee. Yet, the hon. member told us that he was opposed to the idea of hijacking the committee. He did not have to say that. No one asked him to do so. He said it, presumably without being forced to. No one had wrestled him to the ground to force him to make that comment during the sitting of the parliamentary committee.
I am quoting the proceedings of the parliamentary committee. Without being overly specific, this was said on June 6, 2002, at 10:57 a.m.. He concluded his remarks around 11:25 a.m.. So, as we can see, the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve was then opposed to any measure that would have had the effect of delaying the bill presented by the minister. He was primarily opposed to members defending ideological concerns.
Today, the ideology that he expressed is to the effect that we must destroy everything that is federal and give it to the provinces. This ideology is a pretext to split the bill and delay its passage.
I see that the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Health is very concerned about the hon. member's suggestion. Like me, he has a hard time figuring out why the Bloc Quebecois member made such a quick about face. He wanted the bill to be passed quickly, that is until his recent conversion. Since then, for ideological reasons, he has been wanting to delay its adoption by splitting it, even before the parliamentary committee has made a decision and reported to the House. This is hard to believe.
There a few more points that I think need to be raised before the House.
The bill was introduced and debated in the House and then voted on. The same member voted in favour of the bill. No motion was brought forward to split the bill at that time. When the bill was before the House no reasoned amendment was proposed, or anything like that, suggesting that the bill should not be read a second time and should be redrawn. That was not done.
I am told that the bill is established in a way to deal with provincial concerns, but whether that is or is not the case is surely an issue to be raised before the parliamentary committee on which the hon. member sits.
I want to go back to my initial point, namely that the bill is before the committee. It is not before the House.
It is with great regret that I see that I will not have enough time. I have so many things to say on this bill. We will have to conclude our remarks. Of course, we can carry on some other day and discuss this bill, even though it is with great regret that I must conclude.
Madam Speaker, you are indicating that, unfortunately, we are running out of time.